Process of making incandescents



(No Model.)

C. J. VAN DEP'OELE.

. PROCESS OF'MAKING INGANDESGENTS.

No. 324,193. Patented Aug-11, 1885.

N. PETERS. Phum-Lnha n bqr. Washington. 0,11

'U xurn TATJE'S CHARLES J. VAN DEPOELE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS OF MAKING INCANDESCENTS.

CPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324.193, dated August 11, 1885.

Application filed December 23, 1882. (Ndmodeh) T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES J. VAN DE- POELE, of Chicago, in the county oi (look and State of Illinois, have invented new and use ful Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Garbons and Attaching the same in Incandescent Electric Lamps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear. and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in a process of manufacturing carbons for incandescent lamps and attaching said carbons to the conducting-wires leading through the plug of the bulb or globe. The invention consists in the various steps in the process and in the entire process, substantially as hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is asectional elevation showing the plug, the connecting-wires, the carbons, the manner of connecting the same to the wires, and the matrix in which the carbonization takes place. Fig. 2 is a plan of the carbonizing furnace or oven. Fig. 3 is a vertical sec tion of the same, showing the manner of carloonizing the carbons.

My process is as follows: I take any suitable vegetable fibers of sutficient length and stretch the same between two pointsfor instance, by suspension at one end and weights at the other, or in any other suitable way by which the fibers may by tension be made straight. While in this position I coat such fibers with an even coating of lampblack and varnish, and this latter operation is repeated until the required size or thickness is obtained, when the fibers are dried either slowly or rapidly, as may be most convenient. After the fibers thus coated have become thoroughly dried they will be found straight and strong, when they should be cut into proper lengths and at: tached to the platinum conducting-wires a, which pass through the plug d in the manner well known to electricians.

The met-hod which I employ in fastening the fiber c to the conducting-wires is very sin1- ple, and is as follows: I cut sections 01, of straw, about a quarter of an inch long, through which the bore is about a thirty second of an inch, inside diameter, and stick them over the adjacent ends of the wires and fiber, and in order to secure a perfect contact between the ends of the wires and fiber I fill this small thimblewith a compound of lamp-black and varnish, which, when dried, will be found to accomplish the purpose and make a solid and continuous connection. A is an oven with a perforated cover, B, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and into these perforations I drop an iron tube or pot, G, closedat its lower end, with an enlargement or collar, 6, at its upper end, to prevent the tube from dropping through the cover. I now place the prepared fiber, as described, and secured to the wires and plug, into the upper end of this tube, so that the lower end of the glass plug will rest upon or above the diaphragm II of asbestus, above which I fill the upper end of the tube around the glass plug with ashes, carbon dust, or other suitable material for luring the same, by means of which all atmospheric air is excluded from the retort 0. Suitable heat now being applied to the oven will soon carbonize the fiber, the collar, and filling, by means of which said fiber is connected with the wires. The plug, with the fiber, is then removed from the retort, and is ready to be inserted into the mouth or neck of the bulb, such as is ordinarily employed for incandescent lights, the projecting platinum wires forming the means of connection with the source of electricity.

By means of this process I am able to secure the wires and fiber together before the latter is carbonized and while it is strong and tenacious, thereby avoiding the large percentage of loss which invariably occurs where the carbons are attached to the wires after carbonization has taken place.

Although not essential to the above described proces's, inorder to make the fiber more tenacious and homogeneous a 'small quantity of coal-tar or other highly-carbonaceous material may be placed in the bottom of the retort, which material is reduced and deposited by the heat upon the carbon filament. This can be done during the process of carbonization, which I have described, or may be made the subject of a repeated operation.

I do not claim the retort herein described in the present application, as I intend to make it the subject-matter of another patent.

In this application I make no claim to the the adjacent ends of the fiber and the wires, article produced by the process herein deand filling said collar with a compound of scribed, nor to the straw collar, as the same lamp'black and Varnish, and, third, uniting 15 will be made the subject-matter of a separate the platina wires to the fiber by subjecting application. 1 said wires, fiber, and collar toa heat sufficient \Vhat I claim as my invention isl to carbonize vegetable tissue, substantially as The process of manufacturing carbons for i set forth. electricincandescent lamps, consisting of, first, preparing vegetable fiber with a coating of CHARLES VAN DEPOELE' lamp-black and varnish; second, attaching WVitnesses: said fiber to the conducting platinum wires by l H. S. SPRAGUE, means of a vegetable collar which embraces E. \V. ANDREWS. 

